Chris Staniszewski
09/14/09
School Paper
My school setting was not a very diverse one. However, no school system really is. Every one of them has the same fundamental flaw: people are greedy. It is a horrifying truth that I have been unable to escape no matter where I go in life, and school is no different. As stated in the piece,The Greatest Obstacle We Face, much of schoolwork becomes a game, just a roadblock that needs to be dodged around somehow. I’m afraid that not only are we taught to think of schoolwork like that, but also to think of people in that way. Too often, schools today teach students how to use and manipulate people.
I have heard the phrase, “It’s not what you know, but who you know,” more times than I can bear to recount. It’s as if that’s the one thing that is studied in schools these days and I have had teachers specifically say that to me. These are the same teachers who are supposed to be teaching me the “what I know” part of that cursed phrase.
This really bothers me, because it leads me to pose questions such as: Did I really need to know the material, or just know how to make my teacher feel bad enough for me to pass me? Did I really need to study, or just know the person sitting next to me on exam day who wouldn’t mind sharing some answers? Is learning anything even worth the time and effort I would have to put into it when I could simply find another way out? That last question is the most frustrating one, because the whole point of getting an education is to learn; to become an intelligent human being. The very place where I am going to get this education is the very one that’s making me question if it is worth it or not to go.
Now, of course school doesn’t breed a slew of backstabbing loons who would use others to get ahead themselves. There are plenty of people who are genuinely interested in learning. I’d like to think that this is not only because they would like to be intelligent for their own sake, but for the sake of others. They would like to study anatomy so that one day they could be a surgeon who would perform a life-saving heart transplant, or science, so that one day they might find a remedy for cancer. I would like to think that people learn not only to better themselves, but to better mankind. If school has taught me anything, it is to value and try to become one of those people.
Chris Staniszewski
09/14/09
School Paper
My school setting was not a very diverse one. However, no school system really is. Every one of them has the same fundamental flaw: people are greedy. It is a horrifying truth that I have been unable to escape no matter where I go in life, and school is no different. As stated in the piece, The Greatest Obstacle We Face, much of schoolwork becomes a game, just a roadblock that needs to be dodged around somehow. I’m afraid that not only are we taught to think of schoolwork like that, but also to think of people in that way. Too often, schools today teach students how to use and manipulate people.
I have heard the phrase, “It’s not what you know, but who you know,” more times than I can bear to recount. It’s as if that’s the one thing that is studied in schools these days and I have had teachers specifically say that to me. These are the same teachers who are supposed to be teaching me the “what I know” part of that cursed phrase.
This really bothers me, because it leads me to pose questions such as: Did I really need to know the material, or just know how to make my teacher feel bad enough for me to pass me? Did I really need to study, or just know the person sitting next to me on exam day who wouldn’t mind sharing some answers? Is learning anything even worth the time and effort I would have to put into it when I could simply find another way out? That last question is the most frustrating one, because the whole point of getting an education is to learn; to become an intelligent human being. The very place where I am going to get this education is the very one that’s making me question if it is worth it or not to go.
Now, of course school doesn’t breed a slew of backstabbing loons who would use others to get ahead themselves. There are plenty of people who are genuinely interested in learning. I’d like to think that this is not only because they would like to be intelligent for their own sake, but for the sake of others. They would like to study anatomy so that one day they could be a surgeon who would perform a life-saving heart transplant, or science, so that one day they might find a remedy for cancer. I would like to think that people learn not only to better themselves, but to better mankind. If school has taught me anything, it is to value and try to become one of those people.